The Odd One Out
by MissMavrodaphne
Summary: Freelance journalist Harlow Cranleigh unwillingly gets involved in police business after a ride home with Steve McGarrett. Chapter 6: Ignoring Steve and Danny's orders leads to dangerous situations...
1. Distracting the Police

**The Odd One Out**

_Chapter 1_

It had been almost an hour and there was no sight of the man we were waiting for. Patience is not one of my virtues, but Steve McGarrett seemed to have no problem whatsoever being stuck in a car. The lieutenant commander displayed a level of patience that was almost unnerving.

"Do you mind if I put on some music?" I asked and leaned forward to grab a CD out of the dashboard locker.

"Hands off the radio," he said calmly and kept his eyes fixed on the house across the street. "You can listen to music on your own time."

"Technically, this is my own time," I informed him. "You said this would only take twenty minutes. The drug dealer shows up, you catch him with the drugs and arrest him. I finished my workday ages ago. If I had known that my ride home would last this long, I would've taken the bus."

Steve turned his head to look at me and smiled.

"You still can," he said and leaned across me to open the passenger door. "I'll see you tomorrow."

I glared at him and closed the door.

"Not funny. There are no bus stops around here and you know it. Besides, this place is swarming with criminals and you'd let your twenty five year old neighbour walk home in the dark? Nice."

"Then shut up and keep a close look on the street. He should be here any moment," Steve said and turned his attention back to the house. I folded my arms and did as I was told.

After a few minutes Steve reached behind his chair to grab his bag. I watched him open a plastic box filled with yoghurt and pieces of fruit. He took a spoon and started eating what, I suspected, he thought was a healthy snack. I knew it would result in another argument, but the words left my mouth before I could think of the consequences.

"You do realize that's like poison to your digestive system, right?" I asked him casually.

He sighed and stopped eating.

"How can it be? It's yoghurt and fruit," he pointed at it with his spoon. "You can't get any healthier than that."

"Well, yes, yoghurt and fruit are healthy…," I began.

"There, I told you so. Now shut up and let me finish my food. I haven't eaten since the beginning of my shift."

"…when you eat them separately," I finished my sentence. "Combined they are very hard to digest for your internal organs, which creates toxins and that can lead to disease if you're not…"

"Harlow," he interrupted me again, this time with considerable more menace. "If you don't stop preaching about healthy food combinations, I'll wring your neck, you got that?"

I ignored his death threat and looked out of my window.

"I don't think Danny will like that," I told him quietly.

"I don't care what your cousin thinks, you've been getting on my nerves all day. Asking me how many beers I drink per week, informing me I shouldn't sit in the same position for more than half an hour and now…"

I stopped listening to his rant and glanced over his shoulder, where I thought I saw movement. A dark figure quickly approached the front door of the house. My eyes grew wide and I tapped his arm in excitement.

"Steve, look!"

The lieutenant commander quickly turned around and swore in anger.

"You stay here!"

He jumped out of the vehicle and ran towards the house, gun at the ready. The other man entered the house and disappeared out of sight.

_A/N: Hope you enjoyed it! That was my first chapter in 5 years (used to write for fanfiction many years ago, and decided to rejoin the fanfic fun!), let me know what you think! I appreciate it._


	2. Watching my step

**Chapter 2**

The criminal had flushed the evidence down the toilet, before Steve could get to him. Helping a drugs dealer escape conviction due to my lecture on healthy food guidelines, was not my intention. I had called Danny to come and pick me up. Driving home with Steve didn't seem like such a good idea anymore. Unfortunately Steve managed to talk to my cousin about what happened, before I got a chance to talk to him.

"You're lucky Steve let you off with a warning," Danny remarked casually as he approached me. "I would've choked you out with that little fair-trade scarf of yours."

I looked down at my shoes and felt miserable.

"What kind of warning?" Kono had arrived as well. She walked towards us and put a reassuring arm around my shoulders.

"An extensive list of torture techniques we will use when Miss Cranleigh here messes up one of our cases again," Danny informed me. "I should've written them down, they sounded quite useful for a good cop-bad cop-routine."

He walked towards his car and then turned around.

"You coming?" he asked impatiently.

Kono gently squeezed my arm.

"I'm sorry Harlow," she sighed. "My colleagues have been in a bad mood all day. You know Danny is fond of you. Next week it'll be all forgotten. They'll arrest that man on some other charges. He won't get away with his crimes."

I nodded and got into Danny's car. The first few minutes we drove in silence.

"It wasn't entirely my fault, you know…" I eventually blurted out. "Your partner should've been paying attention to the house instead of looking at me…"

"What were you doing in his car?"

"He offered to give me a ride home," I explained. "We ran into each other at the headquarters and I mentioned my car was in the garage for repairs. I didn't know he was going to try and catch a drug dealer on the way home!"

"Despite all that, you don't distract us during our job, Harlow. You should know that." Danny looked at me for a second and then sighed. "I should never have told you the apartment next to his was free. You two don't exactly make the best of neighbours. A nosy, talkative, health obsessed journalist and a Neanderthal with a short temper usually don't make the best of friends."

"Wow, your character descriptions of us are spot on," I remarked with sarcasm.

"I know, I'm very god at reading people," Danny grinned as we pulled into my driveway. I smiled and stepped out of the car. He could never stay angry with me for long.

"Thanks for the ride. I'll see you tomorrow, alright?" I asked.

Danny nodded.

"I'll make the reservations for our favourite restaurant," he said.

I waved at him and entered my apartment. I immediately froze and stood still. Something was off. I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up as I held my breath for a second. I always closed the door to the kitchen when I went out. Now it was fully opened. I slowly walked towards it, clenching my fists and tried not to make a sound.

**TBC**


	3. Getting involved

_A/N: Thank you for the lovely reviews, faves and follows! Enjoy the next chapter..._

**Chapter 3**

Turns out I should've been paying more attention to the living room. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw a dark figure sitting in the chair. My heart started to beat faster as I quickly turned around to look straight at it.

"Have you come to kill me?" I blurted out, feeling a mixture of confusion and apprehension.

Steve McGarrett calmly got up from the chair and approached me. I raised my hands and slowly backed away from him.

"Don't touch me! Danny taught me self defense lessons… I'm warning you!" I tried to sound confident, but my voice was trembling a little.

Steve now stood right in front of me and stared straight at me. For a few seconds nobody moved. Suddenly Steve broke into a grin.

"I'm sure you could totally kick my ass after those lessons from Danno, but don't worry, I'm not here to harm you."

He walked towards the kitchen and sat down at the table. I blinked a few times and wasn't sure what to make of this.

"Come here, take a seat," Steve said as he patted the table. I was baffled, but took a seat opposite my cousin's partner.

"I need your help, Harlow."

"You. Need my help?" I repeated incredulously. I just ruined the man's case against the drug dealer and now he needed my assistance?

"Yes. You see, the man who escapes conviction works for a big criminal. A man named Tom Reynolds. We're trying to catch the big fish. I want him in jail. You have no idea how important it is for me to get that man behind bars. And you can help me with that."

"What do you want me to do? I'm a journalist, I don't know anything about your line of work," I reminded him, though my curiosity was growing. "I don't chase after criminals and I'm certainly not equipped for stake-outs, in case you forgot what happened today."

"I want you to borrow someone's phone."

I shot him another confused look.

"You still do these articles on Hawaiian tourism for that travel magazine, don't you?" he asked and leaned closer.

"Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"I need you to borrow Finley's phone."

My heart made a little jump. Joseph Finley was a photographer I worked with on a regular basis for freelance articles and was, despite the fifteen year age gap, one of my best friends.

"What does Joseph have to do with this?" I asked him fiercely, clenching my fists.

"Touchy subject, is it?" Steve asked, sensing my tense attitude.

"What does Joseph have to do with that criminal of yours?" I ignored his question and kept looking at him with a defiant stare. But he was right. Joseph was a delicate subject to me.

"I just received a couple of pictures of your friend and Tom Reynolds together. I want to know what they're up to. Finley might be working for him," Steve explained.

"And you're breaking into my house to ask me to steal my friend's phone, while accusing him of working with a criminal? Does Danny know about this?"

"Not at this point and I'm planning on keeping at that way, for the time being."

"Are pictures the only link you have between Joseph and Reynolds?"

"There's one more lead…" Steve said. "Finley spent some time in the army, didn't he? Specialized in explosives, right?"

I nodded. Joseph had told me about that.

"We have reasons to suspect Reynolds is planning an attack, we just don't know where, when and how." Steve folded his arms and awaited my reaction.

"I don't know about this. I can't lie to Joseph, he's one of my best friends," I told him. "I don't believe he's got anything to do with the criminal you're after. I'm not doing this."

I was shaking slightly, but tried to maintain eye contact to show him I was serious.

"Harlow… I need your help with this."

I noticed his tone of voice was slowly changing.

"I'm asking you nicely, please don't make me resort to more drastic measures…"

**TBC**


	4. Fearing trouble

**Chapter 4**

My heart is pounding and I am out of breath from running all the way back downtown. I'm relieved the whole stealing-Joseph's-phone-without-him-noticing went pretty well. My friend and colleague Joseph Finley had gone into his work room to get his camera, so I snatched his phone and put it into my bag. Then I pretended there was an emergency involving my cousin Danny and quickly made my way out of his apartment. I wasn't proud of it, but it was the only way I could prove his innocence.

Steve was waiting for me outside the headquarters.

"Here, now do what you need to do and give the phone back to me," I say as I hand the device over to him.

"I'm glad you agreed to help me with this case, Harlow," he says, inspecting the phone.

"I've only decided to do it so I can prove Joseph isn't a criminal," I quietly inform him. "Now get on with whatever it is you have to do and hurry up. I want to get it back to him as soon as possible."

"I'll give you a call when I'm done. And remember…not a word to Danny!"

I roll my eyes and walked towards the Starbucks around the corner. I order a herbal tea and take a seat near the window. I thank my lucky stars that I have the whole week off, so I don't have to simultaneously focus on both Steve's ridiculous shenanigans and my freelance work. As I'm thinking of ways to return the phone to Joseph without him noticing, I feel a tap on my shoulder. I almost spit out my tea in surprise as I see Danny standing behind me with a frown on his face.

"You're sipping tea, while you were on your way to rescue me?" he asks as he raises an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" I try innocently.

"You told Joseph you had to go because I was in trouble...I ran into him at the hardware store. Now why would you do that?"

I refrain myself from using swear words as I desperately try to come up with an excuse. I open my mouth, fail to come up with an explanation that makes sense and close it again.

"Don't know," I shrug eventually.

Danny sits down next to me and sighs.

"What's going on, Harlow?" he asks, giving me an icy look. "You might as well tell me now, because I'm going to find out anyway…"

There's no way I can hide it from him any longer. I sigh, then nervously look at my tea cup. I can't look him in the eye as I tell him the truth.

"Steve sort of made me steal Joseph's phone so he can find out if he has anything to do with Tom Reynolds…" I say really fast, then bite my lip and await his reaction.

Danny is quiet for a moment, but I can see him slowly getting angry. Then he suddenly gets up, roughly pushing his chair backwards and making his way towards the exit. I jump up and run after him.

"No, Danny! You can't let him know I told you!" I yell after him, trying to keep up with him on high heels, but failing miserably. "Danny!"

My cousin is far ahead of me and I can see him angrily entering the police headquarters. I know what is going to happen. Danny will confront Steve about involving a citizen in police business without his consent and not doing things by the book. Steve then will inform Danny that all means are justified when it comes to preventing an attack on innocent Hawaiian residents…accusations will fly back and forth until Steve decides he wants to have a word with me. I stop running and sit down on a bench just outside the building. I nervously tap my foot and wait for them to come out, which without a doubt will result in death threats and all around frustration…

**TBC**


	5. Making bad decisions

**Chapter 5**

It takes about three minutes before the two men come walking out of the building. Steve and Danny are still arguing and don't stop when they reach me.

"Harlow, get in the car, we need to talk," Steve commands as my cousin and he walk past me. Steve is carrying a paper file. In his frustration and hurry he doesn't notice that a paper falls on the ground, right in front of my feet. I pick it up and take a brief look at it. It's a picture of Tom Reynolds. The man has dark hair, with a bit of grey and menacing green eyes. I shudder. He certainly looks like a criminal mastermind.

"Harlow, you coming?"

I roll my eyes and walk after them towards Danny's car.

"Here, you dropped this," I say as I hand over the picture. Then I climb in the back of the car and wait for the fun to begin.

"Harlow, I thought I told you not to say a word to Danny about this?" Steve asks me with a severe expression on his face.

"Yes, I know, but…" I start, but Danny won't let me finish my sentence.

"Steve, you can't involve my cousin in a case as dangerous as this!" he interrupts. "It's wrong in general to involve citizens in police business, we have rules we need to play by…it's not…"

Steve makes an angry gesture and Danny stops talking.

"Danny, this is the only way we can quickly get information about that asshole of a criminal Tom Reynolds," Steve informs his partner.

Danny stubbornly looks out of the window.

"And?" I enquire. "Did you find any?"

"No, I haven't," Steve admits with a sigh and hands me back Joseph's telephone, without looking at me.

"Great, I'm going to try and give it back without him noticing…" I say and open the car door.

"No, you don't!" Danny says, then turns back to Steven. "We can't let her bring back that phone to Joseph. The fact that you couldn't find any evidence of a connection to Tom Reynolds, doesn't mean there isn't one!"

"What do you suggest we do then, Danno? Ring Joseph's doorbell and say 'Hi, Mr. Finley, here's your phone, we borrowed it to…"

I stop listening and quietly sneak out of the car, without closing the door. Joseph's apartment is not that far away and I decide to walk there.

The door to his apartment is open and I cautiously enter. I can hear two men talking inside the living room. It sounds like they're having an argument, which surprises me a little bit. I've never heard Joseph as much as raise his voice.

I peek around the corner and see Joseph is standing with his back towards me, while the man opposite him raises a finger. He freezes in mid-air as he spots me.

"Who is that?" he asks. Joseph quickly turns around, and I get a good look of the other man. My eyes grow wide as I see the piercing green eyes glaring at me. It's the man from Steve's picture: Tom Reynolds. My eyes grow wide and I shake my head.

"Harlow? What are you doing here?" Joseph doesn't seem too happy to see me.

"Why don't you ask her about the phone, Finley?" Tom suggests, keeping his eyes fixed on me. Oh shit, he knows…

I turn around and try to make a wild dash for the door, but it's closed in front of me by a man who I didn't spot before. Must be one of Renolds' henchmen. I stumble backwards into the living room and slowly raise my hands in defence, with a feeling of sheer panic taking over.

**TBC**


	6. Meeting Mr Reynolds

**Chapter 6**

"Joseph, what's going on here?" I ask as calmly as I can. Joseph shakes his head, almost in tears.

"Harlow, I…I'm really sorry…" he says and then turns to Tom Reynolds. "She doesn't know anything, let her go."

Tom keeps staring at me with a look that gives me the creeps.

"Can't, partner, she knows too much," he informs us.

"She doesn't know anything!" Joseph protests.

Tom gestures towards my bag with his head.

"Look inside her bag for Finley's phone. If she has it, she knows enough about our joint venture," he orders his henchman.

My heart starts beating faster and I quickly look at Joseph, who looks back at me in despair.

"Here it is, Mr. Reynolds," the henchman holds Joseph's phone in the air and I stare at the ground.

"Her cousin works for the Honolulu police department," Tom explains to Joseph, who already knows that. "Was he the one who asked you to borrow your friend's phone, darling?"

"No, he wasn't" I say in all honesty. It was Steve who asked me, after all.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter… you know too much," he smiles almost apologetically. " Jake…" Tom nods at his henchman.

Before I know what's happening, the man behind me grabs my arms and starts dragging me towards another room.

"Hey! You can't do that, I'm a journalist! Let me go this instant!" I shriek and struggle to get out of his grip.

"Let her go!" Joseph looks furious and tries to come after us, but Tom holds him back.

I'm being dragged into the bedroom and tossed onto the floor. The man in front of me draws his weapon and points it directly at me. I feel like fainting, but try to keep eye contact with him.

"Please don't," I whisper and softly shake my head.

The moment I see his finger tightening on the trigger, there's a shot and I scream. The man falls forward and half on top of me. I scream even louder and fight to get away from the body. A man jumps into the room and frees me from the ghastly position I'm in, while another one yells at Reynolds to let go of Joseph.

"Harlow, are you okay?!" I look up and realise it was Danny who shot the man and saved me.

"Danny! Thank God you're here!" I exclaim and fall into his arms, sobbing. He hugs me tight and strokes my hair.

"Shh, it's alright, you're safe," he whispers in my ear and I feel relief flowing over me.

A few hours later I'm sitting in Steve's office at the police headquarters. I hadn't had the chance to properly talk to him and wasn't sure what to expect. Danny had been nothing but kind and caring, but I had a feeling he was going to give me a lecture later on.

The door suddenly slams shut and my heart skips a beat. My nerves are still a bit tense. Steve marches in and sits down in front of me.

"How are you feeling?" he asks and leans forward as if he's scanning me for an answer.

"Alright," I shrug. "Could be better…"

"Good," Steve nods and then goes into stern-teacher-mode. "What the hell were you thinking going to Joseph alone? We told you not to go, didn't we? What do you think would've happened, if we hadn't turned up?"

I look at the floor.

"I'd probably be dead," I quietly admit.

"Exactly," he confirms. "Which you're going to be anyway when I get my hands around your neck and there aren't any witnesses around."

I quickly scan the room and realise we're alone.

"Should I start running?" I laugh nervously.

At that moment Danny walks in and sits down next to me.

"Good news, Harlow," he starts. "Joseph is innocent. Somewhat. Tom Reynolds threatened to kill his family if he didn't cooperate. Tom wanted to blow up the homes of people who owed him money. Those houses were situated in places where there would've been quite a lot of innocent victims and collateral damage. Reynolds has confessed and it's safe to say he'll spend the rest of his life in prison."

"Good," I smile. "How's Joseph?"

"He's fine. He immediately asked how you were doing. He's quite affectionate about you, you know."

"Did he?" I ask as I feel my cheeks turning red.

"What do you say we go to our favourite restaurant? My treat." Danny offers, clearly changing the subject, because I'm blushing like crazy and look uncomfortable talking about Joseph with the two men.

"I'd love to!" I jump up and give him a hug.

"Then let's go."

Danny and I walk towards the exit when we hear Steve protesting.

"Woah, woah…wait a second…she disobeys police orders, gets into deep trouble and you buy her dinner as a reward?"

"She's been through so much already, Steve. We'll lecture her tomorrow, okay?" Danny sighs.

"Tomorrow 9 am. My office," he orders curtly. "Meanwhile, enjoy dinner."

I chuckle as I see Steve smiling as we leave the office. Maybe there is a human being underneath all those ninja and Navy SEAL-skills after all…

**FIN**


End file.
